How to Setup Net10 Web, Data, and MMS for your iPhone running iOS 6

Method 2 – Configuring Both your Data and MMS APN

Configuring your iPhone for both Data and MMS is a little tricker. You need to enter the Carrier APN Settings into the Cellular Data Network page

For some reason the Cellular Data Network settings are hidden when you use the Net10 AT&T SIM. Fortunately, there is a work around. It’s called the SIM Swap method. When you have a T-Mobile SIM card in your iPhone the Cellular Data Network settings are available.

Using the SIM Swap method, put the T-Mobile SIM in your iPhone and go to the Cellular Data Network settings. Then, you swap your Net10 AT&T compatible SIM back in and go back to the Cellular Data Network settings and enter the Carrier APN Settings.

The T-Mobile SIM card doesn’t need to be active. If you bought your Net10 Wireless SIM card retail package, you should have a T-Mobile SIM card left over. Try that SIM, for the iPhone 4, 4s, or 5 you will need to cut the SIM to fit your phone.

0. Tap Settings->General

1. If Profile is present. Tap Profile. Tap Remove. Tap Remove Profile. If there is no profile, go to step 2.

Note: If you fail to remove any APN Carrier Settings Profile that is installed, the SIM Swap method will not work and you will pull all your hair out wondering why.

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All these websites keep posting to fill in the APN, but with an AT&T or its prepaid variants’ SIM the APN option is hidden on iPhones. With iOS v10.x.x and higher not even the SIM swap trick works! … It’s frustrating.

I’d discussed that point extensively on this site. The very first line of this old article is a link to an update that discusses the problems.
Right under UPDATE: 10/8/2013 I have a new guide for iOS 7. There is a lot of information on this site if you just put in a little effort to search for it or politely ask for help.

You need to either install an APN profile or let your phone update its carrier bundle to the latest one for your carrier.

I am having problems sending picture messages, I have a zmax ZTE Android, I swapped from my broken zmax, to the new one I could send messages before the swap, now I can’t for some reason. I have tried a lot of different ways through apn. I have had net10 for over 4 years and love it, I would hate to move to a new carrier. Please help

I’m trying to get the data and MMS to work on an iPhone 3G with a Net10 card. I’ve gotten it to work with method 2 about a year ago but the phone has stopped getting data and MMS again. So I came to try this method again and I’m running into problems. On page 6, it says:

“These are the Carrier APN Settings that work for me.

[table id=1 /]

Some readers report that my settings do not work for them. Many report success with

[table id=2 /]”

Isn’t something missing here? I’m pretty sure there uses to be more and I used whatever it was and that’s how I got it to work.

2. If you on the $50 a month plan, your data should be a lot faster if you upgrade to a newer phone. you can find a good deal on used iPhone 5 these days. Also with the latest iPhone software, data works without method 2, so no more SIM swapping.

Hi Clem,
I am not sure what specific LG phone you are using or where you got it. If you bought it from Ne10 you might be able to use the 30 plan. If it is a Bring your own phone, you won’t be able to. You can verify with net10 support.

Unfortunately this method does not work for iOS 8.3, because once u remove the sim card and replace it with the other some card it prompts u in a screen that you cannot exit out of so you cannot change anything

If you recently signed up for Net10 and transferred your phone number it may take a few days before you can receive MMS picture messages. I had the same issue. I set up three Straight Talk accounts. MMS worked fine for the two with new phone numbers. I could not receive MMS for the third, the one I transferred a number to. I tried the SIM in two different phone and it did not work. After a few days I decided to see if I could try to fix it, only to find it working.

I just got an iPhone 3 and its unlocked and I put Streight talk service on it unlimited 45$ monthly and I called ST and they got my data and SMS working but my Mms does not work at all I used one of them smart packs that comes with all the chips and the service plan. I don’t have the option to change My APN if you can please help me I sure would appreciate it

I have a net 10 SIM card in can I leave it in to do all this I’m confused I need step by step if its possible please email me and easier way for me to understand how to do it I just want to be able to send and receive picks that’s the only thing I can’t do thank you !

Hi Tabitha
Read the entire guide. I wrote it to explain what you need to do. I recommend readding it on a computer rather than your phone.

It shows you step by step what to do. Which iPhone are you using? Does the phone have iOS 6 or iOS 7. You Net10 SIM is either for the Net10’s ATT or Net10 TMobile network, do you know which.
Regards
Bob

Hi Tor,
That is great news. Thanks for taking the time to comment. If you use social media, please follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and YouTube. In addition to keeping up with latest updates at smartphonematters you would be helping us launch social media efforts. click here
Regards
Bob

Hi Andy
That is great news. Thanks for taking the time to comment. If you use social media, please follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and YouTube. In addition to keeping up with latest updates at smartphonematters you would be helping us launch social media efforts. click here
Regards
Bob

I got my phone to work with method 1 but the method 2 wouldn’t work. I have a iphone 3GS and I can’t get the screen to change my apn. I tired over and over. I have data and can text but I can’t get pic messages or send them.

Hi Salman,
hanks for taking the time to comment. If you use social media, please follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and YouTube. In addition to keeping up with latest updates at smartphonematters you would be helping us launch social media efforts. click here
Regards
Bob

Hi Lorna,
Ok. Which phone are you using? which SIM the Net10 att or Net10 tmobile sim? what version of iOS are you using? what carrier is installed. Look in Settings General About to find out the last two. Is your data slow?
Regards
Bob

Thank you so much. Worked perfect for me, iPhone 4, 6.1.3. Please don’t EVER take this web page down. For some reason I’m fine for a couple of months and then I have to redo this process all over again. This is the third time I’ve done it in a year.

Hey XMAN,That is great news. Thanks for taking the time to comment. If you use social media, please follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and YouTube. In addition to keeping up with latest updates at smartphonematters you would be helping us launch social media efforts. click here
Regards
Bob

I have a T-Mobile sim now but I have been unable to get the cellular setting to work. My phone is locked to ATT. Is this possible with a locked phone? I am unable to have it unlocked since I am not the original owner nor have an ATT account. I have looked over the guide and have done everything but reset it with ITunes. I have read over the guide and faqs. Am I missing something?

Hi Nikki,
You can still always ask AT&T to unlock it. The worst is they can say is no. If you know the original owner you can ask them to unlock it. If you do the iTunes Restore, it is possible the phone might unlock.

I have never done this with a locked iPhone. Many readers swear it works on their locked iPhones. Others don’t seem to be able to get it to work until the unlock their phone. So all I can say is that it seems to work for some people. One reader told me you need to be very fast to get into Cellular Data Network on a locked iPhone, so see if you that helps.

If you are using iOS 7 and your APN is tfdata, its possible your phone might work without the SIM swap. Try the iPhone Restore, if you are using iOS6 and want to stay on iOS 6 be carefully not to update to iOS 7.

Hi. I just bought 2 at&t iPhone 3’s (Net10 cards and sims for my 11 year olds and when I tried to change the apn it didn’t work. So I went back and tried again and saw the net10 iPhone one. I went to do that one and it said it was not unique. So it wouldn’t allow me to install it. I was getting pretty upset and went and erased the apn settings on the phone. went back and tried the net10 iPhone apn and it allowed install. Please put that people have to erase the old apn settings before trying another 🙂 worked like a charm after that!!!

Hi Danny,
I am not sure what you are asking. If you install the APN profile from the Net10 website, you’ll only get data. You need to SIM swap and change the Cellular Data Network Settings to get MMS working. The Straight Talk guide might be a little easier to follow. It will work with net10

Hi Danny,
I am not sure what you are asking. Take a look at the guide. Install the APN profile to get data working. Try the SIM swap to set up both data and MMS.
The guide shows how to do this.
Regards
Bob

Hello I tried your method 2 with no success. I have an iphone 3gs and I had to install cydia in order to get the intenet and the mms working. I was told that if I turned the phone off I would lose the mms and the internet. For some unknown reason the phone went to safe mode and some time later the mms and internet stopped working. I called net10 and installed the update (iapnupdatetfdata.net10.com) and got the internet running but the mms was still disabled. This is when I found your website and tried method 2 to get the mms running. Well it didn’t work and the internet stopped working. I can get it back up tomorrow when I get wifi. I am pretty sure the problem is having to turn off the phone at the end of the process I think this disables the cydia and nothing wants to work afterwards. Does this make sense? Can you recommend any further actions to get mms and internet running? Thanks for helping us out, it seems like you’ve put a lot of effort in this 🙂

Hi Teresa,
I don’t use jailbroken phones so I am not familiar with the issue about powering off the phone. You can try data and MMS without powering off the phone and see if it works, it might. You can also try the airplane mode trick. After entering the settings. Turn on airplane mode for a minute then turn it off. Then reboot the phone. Some readers swear this works.

How are you entering your APN information. Did you SIM swap and go to Cellular Data Network, or get some app from Cydia? FYI: iapnupdatetfdata.net10.com will only set up data, not MMS.

Thanks for putting all of this together, Bob. I’ve got an iPhone 4 running iOS 6. I am trying to set up MMS using the sim swap method but when I take out my Net10 sim card, it says No Sim until I restart my phone. I can get to the APN settings page but when I put my Net10 sim card back in, it still says No Sim unless I reboot. Then the APN values I manually entered don’t stick and nothing works. Any ideas?

Hi,
I am not sure I follow.
When you take out your Net10 SIM it display NO SIM
When you put in the T-Mobile SIM the display should change from No SIM to Searching to No Service.
when it says No Service you will see the cellular data network option
Next when you put the Net10 SIM back in the phone, it should display No SIM, Searching, and then HOME
You should go into Cellular Data Network when the display is showing searching, or is this where the problem is.

You need to be quick to do this or a try this little trick. Enter all of the other values needed except the APN.
Enter the MMS APN and copy the APN name to the clipboard. If you scroll up carefully to the Cellular data APN you will see the text input cursor is still in the MMS APN. Keep both APNs displayed on the screen at the same time. Now tap the Cellular Data APN and paste the APN name is. Quickly look to make sure that both APNs are right and save the settings.

I have an iPhone 3gs and get to step 4 and 5 of method 2. Even with my T-Mobile sim inserted I cannot get it to display the cellular data network option. I restarted the phone and it still does not give me the option.

So. I read your entire blog and found it very helpful. Now my question is a very silly one, but I’m really confused.

I have an iPhone 4. I want to setup a net10 account and be able to talk and text on this phone. However, I’m not sure what to do. Do I purchase a net10 plan and then follow your procedure, enter my APN values from my purchase, and then it will work? Or do I have to buy a SIM card and a plan and then follow the procedure? I just want to be able to call and text on a pay as you go plan. I’ve been confused about this for a long time and I feel your blog can maybe help me figure this all out.

Hi Brittany,
Yes. I can help you. Moving to prepaid is confusing. But you did the right thing by researching it first. I set up this web site to help people figure this all out. I do spend a lot of time helping people who have already switched to Net10 or Straight Talk.

So, lets get started with a few simple questions. Your iPhone 4. Is it on AT&T or another carrier? And is your phone on contract?